Key points
• A nationally-representative poll finds extreme weather leads older adults to worry about how climate change will affect them.
• Older adults also reported needing more reliable information about climate change.
Older adults who have experienced extreme weather events are significantly more likely to worry about how climate change will affect their health, according to a new national poll by the University of Michigan.
Among the 1,200 Americans aged 50 and older surveyed by U-M’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation., 74% reported experiencing an extreme weather event in the past two years. Of those, 70% worried about how climate change would impact their health, compared to just 26% of those who had not experienced an extreme weather event.
While many respondents expressed concern, only 6% reported talking with a health care provider about how extreme weather may affect them.
“Our findings suggest a need to help more older adults understand and take steps to prepare for the impacts of wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, extreme heat waves, winter storms and more, especially when it comes to the medications, medical supplies, electricity and access to care that these emergencies can disrupt,” said Sue Anne Bell, Ph.D., FNP-BC, a nurse practitioner and associate professor at the U-M School of Nursing, who worked on the survey. Bell studies the impacts of disasters and public health emergencies among older adults.
The survey also found that certain groups were more likely to worry about climate change and their health, including women, those with poor mental health, those living in urban areas, and those with lower incomes.
Furthermore, many older adults reported that they need more information about how climate change affects health. Only 47% of participants said they had enough reliable information about how climate change will impact their health; 27% said they did not have enough reliable information and 28% were unsure.
You can learn more about how older adults are affected by climate change at the ACCC’s web page about the health effects of climate change.